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Providers of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” equipment and services are eyeing the Chinese market to expand their offerings—and the Obama Administration initially will cough up $378,000 so the industry can travel to China to further examine such potential opportunities. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), an independent White House agency, is providing the grant for what it calls the U.S.-China Shale Gas Training Program, which will “help introduce Chinese energy sector officials and project sponsors to U.S. shale gas best practices, policies and technologies.” USTDA last month had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China’s National Energy Administration (NEA)...

A Vietnamese water company has asked the Obama Administration for help in assessing its information and communications technology (ICT) modernization plan, and a White House agency has agreed to provide a $600,000 grant for that purpose. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) will fund the endeavor, which entails footing the bill for an ICT contractor to fly to Vietnam to provide "technical assistance" to the Saigon Water Corporation, or SAWACO. SAWACO is described as "a government-owned enterprise operating under the HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) Peoples' Committee," according to a contracting notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located...

In the days and weeks after Hurricane Sandy wrecked ports, resorts, and power lines across the mid-Atlantic coast, the Obama administration launched multiple projects targeting the revitalization of such infrastructure. Not in seaside New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, but in cities across India: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Mumbai… Patriot Update has discovered that taxpayers will foot the bill for industry trips to India — trips taken on behalf of a consortium whose members include multinationals such as ExxonMobil, GE, and IBM.

A company jointly led by a former Exxon researcher and a one-time U.S. government official recently secured a contract to assess potential U.S. investments into Libyan industry, specifically the power-generation sector. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), an independent White House entity, selected Energy Markets Group (EMG) to carry out a “definitional mission,” or DM, to Libya. EMG will travel to Libya, evaluate that industry segment, and craft a report for USTDA either recommending or rejecting possible “investments” of additional funds to boost Libyan modernization efforts. EMG’s president is Ahmad Ghamarian, formerly an Exxon Research and Engineering Company staffer....

Significant steps have been taken since 9/11 to increase the interoperability of communications systems among emergency service providers; the U.S. government, however, is stepping up efforts to coordinate such efforts in one particular city: the Turkish city of Istanbul. The incompatibility of systems used by dozens of emergency and municipal service providers across Istanbul is negatively affecting that city's disaster preparedness. Conequently, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) is assisting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, known as the IBB, in its consolidation of 41 operations centers. According to a USTDA solicitation notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via...

Kenya Sees Spike in Obama Administration-Funded Projects U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor, April 14, 2012 Kenyan businesses lately have increasingly become recipients of U.S. government largesse, as the Obama Administration, among pursuing other endeavors, aims to expand "livestock-related economic opportunities" in the president’s former home nation. Although this and other recently released presolicitation notices for unrelated programs serve as advance alerts to potential vendors—and therefore do not offer cost estimates and other details— a review of U.S. government contracting actions nonetheless indicates a spike of activity in Kenya in a variety of sectors. The White House is committing to a...

The Obama administration is considering future funding of industry modernization ventures in Libya, and has proposed sending contractors to assess U.S. investment prospects. Four separate “definitional missions,” or DMs, soon will be carried out by private vendors on behalf of the U.S. Trade & Development Agency, an independent White House entity.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), an independent White House agency, in recent weeks awarded several contracts and separately launched multiple initiatives in nations including Colombia, Egypt. Nigeria, South Africa, Vietnam, and Turkey. U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor posts these news briefs to encourage readers to ponder -- and comment on -- the question: are these relatively small expenditures a worthwhile investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars to promote global U.S. trade, or are they unjustifiable transfers of wealth from the taxpayer to businesses and to U.S. client states? We leave it up to the reader to decide....

U.S. Considers Funding Various Mexican Energy Projects By Steve Peacock, U.S. Trade & Aid MonitorThe U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) is weighing whether it should help finance a trio of energy projects in Mexico; however, prior to making those decisions, the agency will award consulting contracts to U.S. vendors to assess the viability of those respective endeavors. The first initiative is titled the Zacatecas Wind Power Project Feasibility Study, whose stated objective is to: enable the development of a 70 MW wind power generation project in the Municipality of Zacatecas. The Feasibility Study will allow the Grantee to assess...

$352,600 will help fund study of project in Bydgoszcz The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has announced a grant of $352,600 to Metalko Sp.z.o.o., a subsidiary of the Polish chemical producer ZACHEM, to help fund a feasibility study for a waste recycling and waste-to-energy project in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The grant signing ceremony is scheduled to take place June 30 at the offices of the U.S. Commercial Service in Warsaw. Following is a USTDA media advisory with details: (begin text) U.S. Trade and Development Agency www.tda.gov USTDA TO AWARD WASTE RECYCLING GRANT IN POLAND WARSAW (June 28, 2004) -- The...